Colorbook playhouse



Dec. 22., 1970 D. D. MCBRIDE COLORBOOK PLAYHOUSE 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 FiledJuly 14, 1969 Mu W m f. ML

United States Patent Office 3,548,552 COLORBOOK PLAYHOUSE Darvil DavidMcBride, 2379 Vicentia, Corona, Calif. 91760 Filed July 14, 1969, Ser.No. 841,231 Int. Cl. A6311 33/16; E04b 1/344 US. Cl. 52--70 ClaimsABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A blank and a playhouse formed therefromhaving twelve rigid sections secured together by fold creases, thesections being disposed in relatively parallel and perpendicular planesto define a playhouse having four outside walls of two sections inlength, one inside wall of one section in length and one inside wall oftwo sections in length, said sections having selectively openable doorsand windows accentuated by colorable art work thereon and includingcolorable art work to give the impression of flowers and the likeadjacent said house is disclosed. The playhouse may be made ofreinforced cardboard, hinged plywood or composition panels, plastic,etc.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Field of the invention This inventionrelates to amusement devices in the form of building structures forchildren and, more particularly, to childrens playhouses.

Description of the prior art Collapsible or foldable building structuresfor use by children have been known and popular for many decades.Wiplitzhauser, US. Pat. No. 1,092,321, for example, has described a toytent which has two sloping walls with front and rear closing panels.More recently, OBrien, US. Pat. No. 3,231,942, has illustrated achildrens playhouse having one room which is capable of being folded.Both of these structures, however, suffer from the disadvantage ofhaving only one room therein and, as is well known, children delight intheir play in running from room to room. While certain very fundamentalprinciples have applicability with respect to houses of all sizes, i.e.,from doll houses, models, to playhouses, and to structures suitable forhousing people, see Nelson, US. Pat. No. 3,346,998; however, thestructures of this type are usually limited to forming one room houses,regardless of size and are, as Nelson illustrates, often extremelycomplex and consequently expensive and difficult to fabricate.

Generally speaking, however, the problems in constructing a housesuitable for children to play in are grossly different from either theproblems involved in the construction of doll houses, and similar sizestructures, and in the construction of full size dwellings. In the onecase, complexity is no particular detrimental and strength is nocritical requirement. This is illustrated, for example, by Williams,Pat. No. 1,241,594, by Friedel, Pat. No. 1,742,905, by Makrianes, Pat.No. 2,441,076, and by Bland, Pat. No. 2,608,026.

In the construction of full size dwellings, simplicity or complexity maybe a factor, depending upon the desired cost of the house, butstructurally these are unimportant considerations. Strength, of course,is a prime consideration in the construction of full size dwellinghouses but lightness and portability is of no consequence at all.

3,548,552 Patented Dec. 22, 1970 In the construction of playhousessuitable for use by children, however, considerations of strength aswell as simplicity and portability as well as durability are importantconsiderations. Only limited experience available from the doll houseart and the dwelling house art are applicable in considering a desirabledesign and construction for childrens playhouses. It is, therefore, aprincipal object of this invention to provide a childrens playhousehaving optimum simplicity, portability, storability, rigidity,ruggedness, utility, and whch will give maximum enjoyment in use.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The blank of this invention and the playhouseformed therefrom comprises, in its preferred embodiment, a singleelongate substantially rigid sheet material which has a width greaterthan about two feet to permit use by children as a playhouse, and awidth less than about onefifth the length to permit disposition of theelongate material as a playhouse. The surface of the material ispreferably treated or coated so as to be suitable for being colored onby children. The sheet material is divided by a plurality of foldcreases extending thereacross to define at least ten, and preferablytwelve, rigid sections of approximately equal dimension, measuredlongitudinally of the sheet material. Means comprising either art workor cuts, or both, are provided on at least two of the sections fordefining doorways and, preferably, additional such means are provided onat least one additional section to define windows. In the preferredembodiment, a combination of art work and cuts are used to define thedoorways and windows, such as to form openable and closeable door andwindow portions.

The playhouse formed from the blank has four outside walls and at leastone internal wall having a doorway therethrough. Preferably, twointernal walls with doorways therethrough are provided thereby defininga three room house for use and play by children. More doors and windowsmay be provided as desired.

Art work is provided on the surface of the material in relation to thesize thereof so as to give the impression of flowers, children, clowns,or other objects of beauty adjacent the house and, in the preferredembodiment to accentuate the doorways and windows.

Four particularly novel and advantageous configurations of the blank fordefining the playhouse comprise an additional important facet of theinvention.

The object of the invention, therefore, is to provide a playhouse whichis improved in simplicity, utility, ruggedness, and portability.

A more specific object of the invention is to provide a foldable orcollapsible playhouse having three distinct rooms therein and a blankfor forming the same.

Another specific object of the invention is to provide a blank forforming a three room playhouse having windows and doors therein.

A still more specific object of the invention is to provide a blank forforming a three roomplayhouse having openable windows and doors.

Still another specific object of the invention is to provide a playhousehaving colorful art work arranged in particular relation and withrespect to the size of the material and the doorways and windows foraccentuating the latter.

Still another specific object of the invention is to provide a playhousehaving One of four highly efficient and particularly advantageous threerom configurations and a blank for forming the same.

A specific disclosure hereof and the drawings to which reference is nowmade form additional and nonlimiting objects of the invention.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS In the drawing:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing the assembled playhouse of thisinvention.

FIG. 2 is an elevational view of the blank of this invention.

FIG. 3 is an enlarged section of the elevation shown in FIG. 2.

FIGS. 4, 5, 6 and 7 are top views illustrating the four preferred andhighly efiicient configurations of the three room playhouse of thisinvention.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS The preferred embodiments ofthe invention will be described prior to discussing the reasons why suchembodiments are particularly efficient and advantageous in the specificuse for which this invention is designed.

FIG. 1 illustrates a playhouse assembled from the blank of thisinvention. Several facets of the playhouse are clearly observable fromFIG. 1. For example, unlike the playhouses of the prior art, theplayhouse of this invention comprises a three room house made up of fouroutside walls 10, 12, 14 and 16, an inside wall 18 approximatelydividing the house into two equal portions and a second inside wall 20further dividing the house into two additional rooms. Commonobservations of children at play illustrate the advantage of thisconfiguration in that it provides a more realistic play situation forthe children and permits them to move from room to room as well asinside and outside of the playhouse.

It will be noted that the playhouse also comprises art work which isarranged in relation to the size of the blank so as to give the illusionor impression, when the blank is assembled as a playhouse, of flowers,trees, shrubs, or other objects of beauty adjacent the house. The artwork is in blank, i.e., outline form, and the surface of the material iscoated or otherwise treated to permit easy coloring thereon. Childrenare, therefore, able to color in the art work as they desire, therebygiving an added measure of joy and development.

The playhouse is provided with at least two doorways, shown, forexample, at 22 and 24, and preferably comprises one or more windows, asshown at 26, 28 and 30. The windows and doors may simply be cut out, asshown, for example, at 26 but in the preferred embodiment, the doorwaysand windows are so formed and defined by cuts and fold creases as toprovide a door, such as at 32, and

window closures such as at 3-4 and 36 which may be selectively openedand closed.

As illustrated in FIG. 1, the art work is preferably arranged adjacentthat part of the blank which will become the bottomof the playhouse andin proximity to the windows and doors for giving the impression ofobjects of beauty adjacent the house, and, likewise, for emphasizing oraccentuating the doors and windows. The emphasis or accentuation mayresult from the pattern showing the construction of the respectiveelements or by the relation of shrubs, plants, flowers, etc., thereto,or both. This important relationship is shown with greater particularityand detail in FIG. 3 of the drawing.

The blank art work on the surface of the material may be provided bydrawing, printing, embossing, or similar methods. The art work defineswhat is referred to herein for convenience objects of beauty. Suchobjects would include, as illustrated, trees, flowers, shrubs, grass,etc., and may include additional objects such as pictures of children,clowns, toys, or the like. On the interior walls, if desired, the artwork may include furniture, paintings, fireplaces, and the like to givethe impression of those furnishings and structures normally found insidea house. If desired, the surface may be left blank in portions to allowchildrens imagination to 'run free and let them draw and paint theiroriginal creations thereon.

Referring now to FIG. 2, the construction of the blank of this inventionwill be considered in somewhat great detail. As illustrated in FIG. 2,the blank, constructed to permit the formation of a playhouse therefrom,comprises an elongate substantially rigid sheet material having a widthgreater than about two feet and less than about one-fifth the lengththereof. The surface of this elongate rigid sheet material, shown at 40is preferably painted a light color, white, etc., or otherwise treated,so as to permit easy acceptance of crayons, water colors, oil colors,colored chalk, etc. The material may be of wood, composition board,plastic, etc. In certain cases, hinge means may be required between thepanels. In the preferred embodiment, however, the material is of areinforced substantially rigid double weight cardboard which is coatedwith a light coating to permit easy coloring thereon by children. Thecardboard may desirably be treated for water resistance as well,although this is not essential to the invention. A plurality of foldcreases 41 to 51 extend across the material in generally parallelapproximately equally spaced disposition to define at least ten and, asshown, preferably twelve substantially rigid sections of approximatelyequal width as measured longitudinally of the sheet material. Asindicated at 52 and 53, additional fold creases define, in the preferredembodiment, extensions on the respective ends of the sheet materialwhich form means for permitting securement of the respective ends tointermediate portions of the sheet material in the assembled playhouse,as shown at 52 and 53 in FIG. 1. Other means of securement are possibleand may be regarded as equivalent but the illustrated means has beenfound to be most efiicient in terms of ease of fabrication and use. Theend securing means 52 and 53 may be secured to the intermediate portionsof the material, preferably adjacent fold creases, by any desiredfastener. A preferred form of the fastener is best described as a largebobby pin fastener. A fastener generally of this type is illustrated anddescribed by Simon, Pat. No. 663,134. These fasteners comprise springwire, of comparatively large cross sectional size, bent to form a closeU configuration so as to clamp the respective parts of the cardboardtogether.

Means, such as cuts, art work, or both, define at least two doors, asillustrated for example at 56 and 58 in at least two individual sectionsof the material. In the preferred embodiment a third door 60, or ifdesired additional doors, are also likewise defined in separate panels.

In a similar manner, means on respective panels desirably define atleast one window, 62 and preferably two or more additional windows shownat 64 and 66 in the material.

As previously indicated, the doors and windows are preferably defined byboth art Work and cuts and by fold creases to permit the doors andwindows selectively to be opened and closed. These constructions arebest shown in FIG. 3, which is an enlarged view of the panels defined byfold creases 43 and 44 and by fold creases 50 and 51. For example, thedoor 56 is defined by cuts 68 at the top and 70 at the side and by foldcrease 72 at the other side. The door is likewise defined by the artwork shown generally in FIG. 3. The window 66 is defined by a cut 76 atthe top, a cut 78 at the bottom and a center cut 80 and by fold creases82 and 84 to permit the windows to be opened in two sections.

A highly important feature of this invention in terms of effectivenessfor the intended purpose, storability, ruggedness, and efi iciency liesin the particular configuration in which the blank may be arranged toform a playhouse.

As shown in FIG. 2, the blank is preferably divided by fold creases todefine 12 substantially rigid sections of equal width, measuredlongitudinally of the material, and as shown in FIG. 1, the sections arearranged and disposed in relatively parallel and perpendicularintersecting planes to define a playhouse having four outside walls,

each of which is two sections in length, one interior wall which is twosections in length and one interior wall which is one section in length.There are four, and, to my knowledge, only four optimum configurationsfor a three room playhouse of the type involved in my invention. Theseconfigurations are shown in FIGS. 4 to 7. The respective rigid panels,designated in FIG. 2 as 101 to 112 may be arranged to form a three roomplayhouse in any of the configurations shown in FIG. 4 to FIG. 7. InFIG. 4, for example, the first four sections 101-104 define one room,the next sections 105-107 define a second room and the next sixsections, 108-112 define the third and largest room. The outside wallsare two sections in length, for example, section 110 and 111, one of theinside walls is two sections in length, sections 107 and 108, and one ofthe inside walls is only one section in length, section 104. This samegeneral arrangement applies with essentially the same result in FIGS. 5,6, and 7 which, from the foregoing and the drawings I believe to beself-explanatory.

The optimum design of the blank and of the playhouse to be formedtherefrom involves several considerations of importance. First, sincethe playhouse is intended for use by children it must, of necessity, becomparatively rugged and durable. If the playhouse is to be convenientenough for use, it must be sufliciently collapsible and portable topermit easy handling and storage when not in use. The playhouse must belarge enough for children to move easily about into and out of andtherein. In this invention the surface of the playhouse must be such aseasily to receive coloring material. These and other important criteriafor the design of a successful childrens playhouse are accomplished inthis invention in the preferred embodiment by constructing the blank outof a heavy double weight reinforced cardboard. The cardboard may betreated with water repellent agents, coatings, etc., to make it morewater resistant. In addition, the cardboard may be formed from fiberswhich are resin bonded to give them additional strength and waterresistance. The essential features, however, are that the cardboardconstruction is relatively light, quite rigid, and quite durable in use.In addition, because cardboard is relatively inexpensive, the blank andplayhouse of this invention can be constructed and sold at a relativelymodest price.

Another important consideration is that the playhouse must be relativelysimple. Anyone familiar with children will immediately realize that if aplayhouse becomes so complex as to require an undue amount of time andeffort in assembling it, the children will simply find anotherdiversion. Furthermore, since the playhouse is of necessity large enoughto permit children to move with relative freedom, a complexconfiguration of the playhouse would result in an unduly heavyconstruction which would not be portable in any real sense. In thisrespect, the cardboard construction is particularly advantageous.

The configurations set forth hereinbefore are particularly stable, inpart because of the interior wall configuration. Stability in use, ofcourse, is an important consideration for a house which is expected toreceive rough treatment from children.

The size of the playhouse which brings into play the severalconsiderations not applicable to doll houses, which are smaller, or todwelling houses which are larger, is subject to some variation. Ingeneral, however, it is necessary that the blank be at least two feet inwidth if it is to form a usable playhouse. Preferably, the blank is ofthe order of about three to four feet in width. The width of the blankis of no great importance, so long as it is greater than about two feetand it may be up to six feet in width, although such constructionsbecome comparatively heavy even when made of cardboard. In a preferredembodiment, each of the rigid sections is approximately three feetsquare. That is, the elongated material is three feet width and the foldcreases define panels which are three feet in length, as measuredlongitudinally of the material. This size has been found to be suitablefor use 6 by children of a wide variety of ages and is convenientlyfolded at a fold crease hereinbefore designated and stored. It is easilyassembled for use.

A generally equivalent construction to that disclosed would be the useof discrete panels secured together by hinge means; however, theadvantages of the playhouse and the blank are not believed attainablethrough this approach. Similarly, while the preferred material is arigid cardboard, plastics now available or to become available may beused in constructing a fully equivalent playhouse. In general, theplastics available at reasonable costs are not susceptible withoutspecial treatment to being colored on by children, however. A reasonablerange of equivalents, therefore, is readily available to those skilledin the art of constructing the blank and playhouse of this invention.Accordingly, certain variations in construction and design is permittedWithin the spirit and scope of the claims which follow.

I claim:

1. A playhouse which comprises:

an elongate substantially rigid sheet material having a width greaterthan two feet and less than about one fifth the length thereof andhaving a surface suitable for being colored on by children,

a plurality of fold creases extending across said material in generallyparallel approximately equal spaced disposition defining at least tensubstantially rigid sections of approximately equal dimension measuredlongitudinally of said sheet material,

means on at least two of said sections defining doorways, and

means for permitting securement of at least one end to an intermediateportion of said material, said material so disposed and arranged as toform a playhouse having four outside walls and at least one internalWall disposed inwardly of the outside walls.

2. The playhouse of claim 1 wherein said fold creases define at leasttwelve such rigid sections.

3. The playhouse of claim 2 wherein the material is so disposed andarranged as to form a playhouse having four outside walls and at leasttwo internal walls.

4. The playhouse of claim 3 wherein said fold creases define twelve suchrigid sections and wherein said sections are arranged and disposed inrelatively parallel and perpendicular intersection planes to define aplayhouse having four outside walls two sections in length, one interiorwall two sections in length and one interior wall one section in length.

5. The playhouse of claim 1 further comprising blank art work on saidmaterial arranged in relation to the sides thereof and proximate saiddoorway so as to define patterns suitable for coloring by children, togive the impression of objects of beauty adjacent said house when theblank is so disposed, and to accentuate said doorway.

6. The playhouse of claim 5 further comprising means on at least one ofsaid sections defining at least one window and blank art work on saidmaterial so disposed as to accentuate said window.

7. The playhouse of claim 6 wherein the means defining the doorways andwindows comprises art work.

8. The playhouse of claim 6 wherein the means definin the doorways andwindows comprises cuts in said material for permitting selective openingand closing of said doors and windows.

9. The playhouse of claim 8 so disposed and arranged as to form aplayhouse having relatively parallel and perpendicular walls formingfour outside walls and two inside walls.

10. The playhouse of claim 1 wherein the means defining said doorwaysand windows comprise the combination of cuts in said material and artwork thereon, said cuts being so arranged as to define selectivelyopenable doors and windows, the fold creases define twelve suchsections, and said sections are arranged and disposed in relativelyparallel and perpendicular intersecting planes to define a playhousehaving four outside walls two sections in length, one interior wall twosections in length and one interior wall one section in length.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,881,356 10/1932 Gold 52702,157,688 5/1939 Cascid 52-715 2,441,076 5/1948 Makrianes 4621 82,460,169 1/1949 Fireng 3526 2,825,150 3/1958 Steiner 3526 FOREIGNPATENTS 329,343 1920 Germany 46-35 JOHN E. MURTAGH, Primary ExaminerU.S. Cl. X.R.

